How can goldfish die

Goldfish are very easy to care for, but they still require cleaned and well-aerated water, which is hard to maintain in a goldfish bowl. You must change the water in a still fish tank every few days or at least every other week,with a filter. The fish can get ammonia poisoning from the still water, their own waste, and the stress of being so active in an undersized tank.

Sad, but true. So far, two of the three goldfish my daughter won are still alive. With proper care, we are hopeful that they will live for many years to come! Goldfish can grow accustomed to humans and this can make it possible to feed your goldfish by hand? My wife does it all the time. Reblogged this on The Petrified Parent and commented: We bought a beta. I suppose Junior needs to learn about the circle of life sooner or later…. It is way too small, but bettas need less water than goldfish.

A 10 gallon tank should be plenty. Today found 2 gold fishes dead. I won ONE goldfish at a carnival and accidentally left it in the car overnight in the freezing cold. Boy did I feel bad! But he survived, so I went out, bought a simple fish bowl, and food. He ended up living for 7 years in that bowl! My son and I actually buried him in the backyard with a little memorial service. I think we just got very lucky with one! Dear friend try remembering after what activity your fish getting sick and leading to its death..

I bought 8 gold fishes n 1 black n have placed em in a fish bowl. Again I bought another one after two days 2 gold fishes dead. I have everything filter. I got 12 goldfish for our gallon pond. They had babies this year. She has a strong love for all animals of all shapes and sizes and particularly loves a good interspecies friendship and wants to share her animal knowledge and other experts' knowledge with pet lovers across the globe.

Skip to content. Aug 19 Nicole Cosgrove. Contents 1. Being Attacked 2. Breeding Behaviors 3. Internal Parasites 4. Dropsy 5. Ammonia Poisoning 6. Nitrite Poisoning 7. Rapid Changes in Water Parameters 8. Temperature Extremes 9. Electrocution In Conclusion Related. Related Posts. August 19th, What Do Goldfish Eat? Different Types of Foods to Offer. As a new person to this fishworld, i really feel like am having a right person to guide me. I request you to continue your guidance.

I bought a new fish tank. I thought that my two goldfish fishes would be happy. They appear little rude. My bigger goldfish is as-usual happily enjoying the new tank along with two little white koi fishes. But my smaller golden fish as-usual being alone in a side of tank. Two koi fishes are sometimes hitting and chewing i thing they may give little bites the small goldfish.

If this continues, my little goldfish may be stressed-out heavier. Am afraid now. Do white koi fishes eat my little goldfish?.. Can i again put my little goldfish in another 1 gallon bowl?

Unfortunately, koi are best kept in ponds, they grow up to be huge. Once again you have the same problem where you have too many fish for the same size tanks. Goldfish cannot be kept in 1 gallon bowls, you will have the same problems that you had that we discussed before.

Hi so I have a 10 gallon tank with one goldfish. I changed water, cleaned the gravel, and changed the filter appropriately and did water tests weekly. He was beautiful and very happy. He loved to chase my finger around and stare at me lol. A few days ago he started having issues swimming and floated upside down.

I looked it up and found swim bladder disorder. It said to have him fast because the main cause was from gasping air while eating food even though I made sure it sank for this very reason However I did not feel comfortable raising the temp or adding salt. I tried helping him swim right side up but it was useless.

He looked perfectly healthy. But his fins were a little torn from rubbing against the gravel so much. While 10 gallons is too small for a gold fish, it sounds like you looked after him to the best of your ability. This is perhaps the most frustrating thing about fish keeping, even though we do everything right, it might just be the fishes time to go. Birth defects and even diseases beyond our control can take hold and there is little that can be done. If your water parameters were otherwise normal and you did everything you say, then you gave your pet the best life possible within your means.

He has become really sad and either sits at the bottom of the tank not moving for hours or rests high up against the filter! He is hardly moving and I have had one die this way before. Added 2 little bacteria balls to the filter. About 2 weeks ago my fish began to die off 1 by 1. Out of 19 fish I now have 6.

I had my water proffesionally tested and it passed with flying colors. Nothing has changed in my maintenance regimen. Just out of nowhere BOOM dead fish and cloudy water. The latest angel developed dropsy I believe. We dont know what to do. The water recently around a couple months ago stopped turning green all the time and we thought that would help with all the fatalities but no luck. Any suggestions are welcome! My suggestion would be to work your way through this list and cross them off one at a time.

You should be using a liquid test kit to test these I recommend the API master test kit since test strips are both inaccurate and more expensive over time. I have noticed a lot of people buy neons as a first fish…I have found that neons need a well cycled tank of 6 months or more.. I no longer look on them as first fish..

I have found black neons a better fish even if they are larger and not so colourful.. Hello, My sister used to have a frog and a beta fish they lived in the same tank and had a happy life, the frog eventually died and the beta fish not soon after. Recently we got her new fish, 3 painted glass fish. After only about only 1 week of owning them they started dropping dead one after another each day, and know they are all dead.

We really are unsure of what is happening, the water was clean, they were feed appropriately, but they just died. Tetras got sucked up I to filter while I was at work and came home to two dead tetras. My betta is getting stuck in the current, filter too strong or wrong side. You can reduce the water flow by using a piece of sponge on the intake of the filter.

I had one rainbow shark fish, four guppies, and two snails along with four plants and some decorations. For a couple of months they were well and going about their business. In the past month or so I added three tetras, the shark fish was having a good time chasing them around the tank. I added one guppy that gave birth to two babies and got pregnant again by the male guppies. So I went and bought a Molly to take care of the guppy fry still not here yet by the way. They lived harmoniously together for a few weeks, then all of the sudden in the span of three days they all died, except for the baby guppies for now.

Petco is the last place I would go to for fish advice. You should have an aquarium test kit on hand I recommend the api master fresh kit , this will give you a good idea of what your water quality is — which is responsible for the vast majority of fish deaths.

However, based on what you have written, do have a suspicion that overstocking is the problem, leading to poor water quality. A test kit will confirm this. I do have the test kit you speak of, the only thing the test kit showed was a 7. The rest came back normal. I have also bought the ph reducer by imagitarium, and have tried to bring the ph down. I am now left with one guppy baby the other one died between the time I wrote this and your response , one pregnant guppy which is hovering around the heating element , one other guppy and the Molly.

What do I do now? How do I keep them alive? Also how many fish can I have in a 20 gallon tank? The amount of fish will entirely be determined by the type of fish. For guppies, the general advice is fish per 10 gallons of water. Good morning, Ammonia has been around 0ppm, nitrite has always been around 0ppm, and nitrate has been around 0ppm.

Is it possible one of the new fish I got was sick and killed the other ones? Unless you are doing non-stop water changes, or have chemical media that will absorb nitrates, it should continue to rise non-stop in a healthy tank. Also are you checking your test kit results in natural daylight? Indoor lighting can throw off the results. On the sickness front, it is possible, but for a mass wipe-out like this, there would generally be symptoms of something being amiss.

Also, you are correct. Specially when the water b comes murky. We do not look at it in the daylight because we usually test the water when we get home from work. I will try and test the water this weekend during the day. On Tuesday i did a whole tank water change and washed the gravel with a lot of hot water and wiped the tank clean with a wet paper towel, no dish soap or any cleaning agent was used.

My water hardness seems to be a bit high, and my boyfriend has bought a water hardness reducer thing not sure what it is, it looks like a fabric bag with yellow stones in it. I think we may be getting closer to the issue, at least based on what you have said. You are overfeeding waaaay to much, which you have partially identified.

For example, single betta only needs of those really tiny micro pellets. The next day when I came from school my fish and my sisters fish were both dead. Very likely point 1 in the above article. New fish tanks need to be cycled. There are 2 links in the step 1 there that your family should read before buying any more fish.

Great article. This tank has been established for years with dwarf puffers and a Siamese algae eater. IT is moderately planted. I fed them tubifex worms from my local fish store. I decided to switch directions and traded in those fish to the store to start something new. Since then, almost everything I have put in that tank has died. Currently I have 5 neon tetras as a test. Even the my crypts are starting to have problems.

The only fish that seems fine and will eat food is a small rainbow fish. The tetras looked stressed out as they hide on the bottom gulping all the time. Tank water parameters are normal, I have an air stone, plenty of filtration oversized filter and a good heater.

I feed the plant with root tabs every 4 months. I light vacuum the substrate, which is active-flora. Local fish store had me check for electrical leaks with a multi-meter and although there is a small bit of voltage, it is the same as my 16 gallon, which is vigorous and happy.

Latest theory from LFS is anaerobic pockets in the substrate inches deep. I did deep vacuum the substrate in a corner of the tank and found areas of black and white cloudy film which may support that theory.

There are still tubifex worms living in the substrate since nothing in the tank will eat them right now. I would appreciate any insight you may have from my description.

These are the types of questions that are best asked on forums like fishlore or plantedtank. Thanks for weighing in. Hi, I read this blog when I had 6 new Ember Tetras yesterday for my 10 gallon, and acclimated them after cycling the tank for 5 weeks and I was sure I had done it wrong! So I tried to find out what I did wrong with acclimating them from this post.

I had a shrimp filter because embers are so small! All the inflows and outflows of water were covered with grid and foam! What it turned out to be was that the embers were swimming in a -3 mm- hole in the back that was mentioned for a suction cup that had fallen out!!

I lost 4 of my 6 new embers! Last week I had 5 common goldfish and now. I have one. Truly their tale must be the worst for fish- won as a prize in a festival game.

I pittied the poor fellows and decided to try to give them a better life. I have done nonstop research during my spare time trying to save these poor guys and just when I think I am on the road to success, another one floats belly up or in the filter stuck dead then stuck to filter, not filter killed them. Spontaneous as it was, I had no choice but to buy a tank same day I aquired the 5 fish and attempt to do fish in tank set up the next day I wanted to give at least one day for the tank to run before putting them in.

One died in the festival water overnight- not unexpectedly, it was filthy. Unfortunatly I only had the budget for a 10 gallon tank which I am aware is not quite sufficent for goldfish who thrive more on 10 gallons per fish, but it was the best I could do. So, after night one I acclamated the 4 fish left and hoped for the best as I transfered them in.

A week past and they seemed to actually be doing really great. Two of them died together. The biggest one 2 inches and a much smaller common goldfish 1.

They lived in harmony for about half a week longer even got a bubbler they enjoyed swimming in and all of a sudden the smaller one just gave out he hung out around the filter staring in the corner night before death, morning of swam about seemingly fine, then a few hours later just flopped.

The bigger one did chase the smaller around the tank sometimes, but my research showed that goldfish are social and this behavior is common. Only guess is stress from the chasing??? I feel like I have tried to learn a lot about caring for these fish but I still feel helpless as they die off one by one. What went wrong with the peas?! I am still not sure why they have died. Everything is just speculation. But, I know for sure that I dont want my last one to go belly up. Do you agree with any of my conclusions about their cause of death?

Any tips about keeping the last one alive? Are there any signs of a tank set up being the problem I should check for? What are some signs of under or over feeding? Or maybe this should this all have just been expected from a kiddie pool, festival goldfish game?

Really any advice for a beginner who went from 5 living fish to 1 in two weeks would help- signs, errors I may have made, should I invest in a companion for the solo goldfish left, etc. Anything would be awesome. Even if these goldfish were in tip-top health which coming from a side-show game, I doubt it they were unfortunately doomed from the start.

When you first set up a fish tank, it needs to be cycled. Ideally, you would want to do this without fish. Your issue was point 1 and point 3 from the above guide. You need to cycle new tanks. And that was way too many fish for a 10 gallon. I highly recommend reading point 1 and the attached cycling guides as well as buying an aquarium test kit — it will help you identify the most common issues. I just recently bought 4 glo-fish from petsmart and they all died in my gallon tank.

I took a small sample from the fish tank and they tested the water for me. Everything was fine so I thought it might have been the temperature because I had my tank at 72 when they said it should have been at So I adjusted the temperature and waited a long time because I got busy.

Eventually the temperature went back up to 78 and they all seemed fine. I woke up this morning and 2 had died, the other two were still alive red and blue. I kept looking at them for some time and the red one started breathing really rapidly and kept getting stuck on the decoration.

He died after some time of struggling. For my betta I had a small bowl and he lived for 3 years. My goldfish lived in a small 1. I am planning on changing everything and redoing everything please help. See point 1.

Also, it sounds like you had hardy fish your description of your previous two fish sounds like it came down to luck. However, you now have the opportunity to do things right. If you have a filter with disposable filter cartridge, these are a somewhat of a scam — every time you throw out your filter, you are throwing out the good beneficial bacteria attached.

At minimum, your filter should have a piece of sponge that is rinsed and can be replaced and ceramic rings that last up to 5 years or more, depending on the brand.

When the time comes to replace the ceramic rings, they are swapped out half at a time, so that they beneficial bacteria can move to the new ceramic rings. If you have a sponge filter, you would run a new, second sponge filter at the same time for about a month before removing the old one.

Sorry, I have another question. I would also like to comment on what you told Rosie about the ceramic rings. And nobody ever says anything about changing only half at a time! Which makes perfect sense! I realize this is a learning experience as you go along, but that seems like basic tank management and nobody passes along such relevant information — except you.

I am so grateful to have stumbled on your website. The good news here is that you can do water changes less frequently. In a normal cycle, there should come a tipping point where your ammonia is decreasing and nitrites are spiking where it may be more frequent, but you are not there yet. At the current stage, 1 water change every weeks to replace GH trace minerals that are essential to fish health will be fine. Once your tank is cycled, replacing the GH is the other reason you would perform a water change, in addition to getting nitrates down.

Ceramic Rings are a very mixed bag in terms of construction and quality. However, some will only last a year, while others considerably longer. When this happens, the tiny pores on the rings will begin to collapse which is where the beneficial bacteria live and each ceramic ring will hold less and less beneficial bacteria.

If a brand recommends you swap them out every 3 months, I would suspect they are using an inferior ceramic ring. I would be worried if someone was only getting 3 months out of their ceramic rings. Anecdotally, I would expect most people would see up to 2 years with a ceramic ring like Fluval Biomax. I personally use Sera Siporax, which is sintered glass.

If your budget stretches that far, it will potentially save you money in the long run. Just ignore the claims that it can remove nitrates from your tank. They should! Raising them is more like chemistry than keeping a traditional pet. Hang in there though, it will get easier. Today the ammonia is down from 0. I plan to do a WC the day before my surgery next week, and hopefully the water will be ok for about 3 weeks.

Fortunately, the tank is close to my front door. If I do 2G and empty the bucket by dragging it to the door, do another 2 G, etc until I reach 10G, I should be ok and able to handle that. Aquaclear, or whoever makes the aquaclear filter and supplies that go with it. Not exact a slouch company! That all sounds positive. I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

The advantage of these smaller tanks is that there is less water for you to change. I hope you recover well! On the biomedia front, aquaclear is one of the brands that has changed their ceramic rings multiple times. Unfortunately, most aquarium manufacturers these days move away from what is best towards what has the most profit margin for them. For instance, Aqueon used to be an amazing brand, making many products in italy. Now their products are some of the worst performing on the market with incredibly poor quality control.

I have a 15G with a divider and a betta on each side. The tank is fairly heavily planted. Substrate has bacteria in it, there is bacteria media in the filter. Plants are showing new growth. My nitrates and nitrites results have been 0 from day 1. The 20G has the same water parameters, same filter, substrate. It was without fish for 5 weeks. Then I added 3 dwarf neon blue gouramis. A week later I added a pair of guppies. The 2 guppies seem to be doing ok.

What I did wrong I realize now, was adding room temperature water to the tank. The tank temperature dropped from a balmy 79 to I have at least 2 issues. Why have there not been any spikes in nitrates and nitrites this whole time? Even with fish in both tanks, they still test 0. How many days before I can consider my guppies safe from the sudden drop in temperature?

Thanks for your help. If your nitrates are at zero then something is wrong. In a healthy cycled tank. Typically, nitrates continue to rise until you perform a water change to help get the levels back down. First, What are you using to test your aquarium? For most people, I recommend the API master test kit, it will last for years and has everything most tanks need. Test strips are not accurate. Next, you want to make sure you read the tests in natural daylight, indoor lighting can cause the colors to be off and give an incorrect result.

This is just as important as nitrite and nitrate. Otherwise If you have a filter media such as zeolite or an additive that removes ammonia or nitrite, then this could be the reason no nitrite or nitrate has been detected. You were so right. Those test strips are worthless. Add bacteria in a bottle to both tanks?

Or add de-ammonia solution, or both? Everybody in both tanks seem to be doing fine this morning. Unfortunately, your tank is uncycled. But the good news is your ammonia levels are low, which is where you want to keep them in order to keep your fish safe.

For how to best move forward, I recommend reading this fish-in cycle guide. It will take you through the steps to keeping your fish safe throught the cycling process. Also, I recommend testing your tap water before you add it to your tank. However, some people do have this amount in their tap water. If your tap water does measure 5 ppm, this becomes the new baseline for nitrates in your tank, instead of zero. Maybe their problem could be attributed to handling them poorly. As a result, most aquarists find themselves struggling to keep their goldfish alive despite the fear of losing them.

This leads to a lot of frustration, causing many people to change their minds about raising pet fish in their homes. On the other hand, several fancy goldfish have undergone heavy hybridization that has left them prone to all sorts of problems. If they are not given good care, these fish end up perishing suddenly. Water is essential for the survival of your goldfish and all other aquatic animals under your care.

But if the conditions are not favorable, your fish may not live long in such a difficult environment. Without a doubt, poor water quality has been ranked as the number one killer of most aquarium fish including goldfish.

Before this happens, ensure that water parameters are within a specific range for your goldfish to thrive best. Sometimes the conditions in the tank may be suitable for your fish when you introduce it there for the first time. But as you continue feeding them these conditions change the moment your fish starts to produce waste. Consequently, ammonia and other harmful elements start to build up and eventually upset the balance. These changes in the aquarium ecosystem affect fish negatively, thus impacting its well-being if no drastic measures are applied in time.

In a well-established aquarium with a functioning filter, the levels of ammonia can be put in check with the presence of beneficial bacteria. These microorganisms are known to break down toxic substances and elements found in the aquarium water.

This is not the case with the new aquarium because there is no beneficial bacteria or anything that can keep ammonia, nitrates and nitrites levels from rising. The same case is common in older fish tanks without proper filtration systems or going too long before any meaningful water changes take place. Such tanks are usually rendered unfit for aquarium fish or other aquatic creatures such as snails, shrimp and even certain species of frogs. One thing you need to know is that ammonia is extremely toxic and dangerous for your fish.

If left unchecked, excess ammonia in the tank can cause black smudges, cause streaks of blood on fins and damage gills. Once your goldfish get subjected to such harsh conditions you should expect the worst.